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Monday, April 23, 2012

Plants are slowly waking up so I've been harvesting overwintered lettuce, spinach, parsnips, jeruselum artichokes, carrots and some chard. Green onions, horseradish, many herbs and violets are ready for harvest too. The forest is yielding more violets, trillium shoots (though who'd eat these beauties!) wild ramps, trout lily and fiddleheads though I haven't eaten the later two quite yet. Though the season of white barrenness is over and greens are abundant once again, today we got a reminder that the weather ride can be a roller coaster.

***Some Spring Edibles:

Trout lilies in abundance, named for their spotted leaves.

Trout Lily (Erythronium americium): Got woodlands or anything kinda shady next to something that was once wood-ish then you probably have a carpet of trout lilies. They are known as a marginal edible or sometimes as starvation food which has put me off them until now. Though these guys give a description that sounds rather pleasant. the3foragers bloodspot eat trout lily By the way, kudos to this blog for info and delicious looking recipes.

Trilliums (Trillium grandiflorum): A bit passed their edibility now, the spring shoots really do taste a bit like sunflower seeds. I know I sparingly tried them once. I do have enough here to eat with a bit more abandon I suppose but I am reluctant cause they're so darn lovely.

Ramps - aka wild leeks (Allium tricoccum): If you have some woods or are lucky enough to have purchased some wild leeks for your shady garden at home, then these are a yummy and useful early spring treat. Use sparingly so there will be lots for next year. Normally I just eat odd leaf and don't harvest the bulb. GardenofEaten gives you a wild ramp eyeful.

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale): I'm going to presume you don't need help identifying these common plants but many people nonetheless are reluctant to scarf them down. The roots, leaves and flowers are both edible and medicinal. Spring leaves are more mild than they are after flowering but you can blanch them like you would for endive to take out some of the bitterness. I find that it isn't noticeable when cooked with mixed greens such as in a quiche or muffins. Motherearthnews is Wild About Dandelions or join Friends of Taraxacum on Facebook.

Yellow/Curly Dock (Rumex crispus): I loved these plants when I was a child with their heavy dried seed heads to strip and sprinkle like brown snow onto the ground. Little did I know they were edible. Wild fermented curly dock leaves.

Trilliums, the provincial flower of Ontario being stately. In a week, the forest will be covered with them.

Plaintain (Plantago major): Tough little plant often found in the lawn. It's young leaves may be eaten. Older leaves are stronger tasting and fibrous. You can use the seeds too as in this recipe from eat weeds.

Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata): An invasive weed, you are likely to have some of these even in the average suburban lot. The taste is described as a cross between - you guessed it garlic and mustard. Some recipes including the common garlic mustard pesto that I keep coming across.

Though hardly an exhaustive list but that's all I have time for now. Let me know if you've sifting through your lawn or woods for food lately.

Friday, April 20, 2012

I"m an avid weather watcher this time of year, hedging bets on when to sow carrot seeds - just before a rain - and when to transplant cabbage babies - if only the flea beetles would stay away. We are getting closer and closer to the Last Frost Date too so tender plants are making their daily migration in and out.

All this and much more activity has been keeping me away from my blog recently. I've been telling people that it feels like I"m running to catch up with myself. But I've taken a bunch of thematic photos so I have high hopes for this Monday.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

They are actually bigger than when this photo was taken and are back outside in the greenhouse after a sojourn inside last week because of a dip in the mercury. I had excellent germination in all but a few very old seeds so I'll have to separate or thin the seedlings and re-pot them up soon. P.S. I'm probably going to transplant most of them so I'll do a short picture-post soon.

Tomato Tuesday Fact

Cotyledon leaves are present inside the seed as part of the embryo plant and in tomatoes pop out pretty shortly after the root shoots down. Tomatoes are dicots, meaning they have two of these seed leaves though once in awhile you'll see a seedling with three or even four. Once the plant is up and running, true leaves of quite a different shape emerge.